Pen supporting head for replaceable ink containers



-H 1952" G; P. MORGAN 2,585,488

I PEN SUPPQR'IING HEAD FOR REPLACEABLE INK CONTAINERS Filjed Feb. 20, 1946 INVEVTOR. fawn/v Mai/1M A; 7 UIIIIII/IIIIIIIII BY 22 I 26a 1%! M14 ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 12, 1952 PEN SUPPORTING HEAD FOR REPLACEABLE- INK CONTAINERS Gorton P. Morgan, Westport, Conn.

Application February 20, 1946, Serial No. 648,845

6 Claims.

also relates to pen supporting heads for inkstands having improved features which enable a pen dipped therethrough into the inkwell to pick up a capacity charge of ink even if the inkwell is nearly empty.

A commercial advantage of this invention is 4 to make possible the merchandising of writing ink bottled in interchangeable containers intended to serve as inkwells only until their original supply of ink is completely used up by repeated dippings of a writing pen. The container may be made of glass or other cheap materials and sold to the consumer with a temporary or throw-away type of cap. The owner of a pen supporting head constructed in accordance with the present invention merely replaces this throw-away cap with such head and thereby sets up an inkstand that is instantly ready for use without the disagreeable task of pouring ink from a storage supply into a hard-to-load and hard-to-clean permanent inkwell. Ink may thus be kept at hand in fresh factory filled containers cap-able of serving as the replaceable well of an inkstand. Ink so stored and used is assured of being clean, up to standard in color and quantity, and free from the disagreeable efiects of dried ink whose incrustations clog and disfigure refillable types of inkstands.

Prior attempts have been made to improve the practical service given by refillable inkstands aimed at enabling the dipped pen to load itself fully to safe ink carrying capacity or aimed at preventing the pen from picking up excess ink, but most expedients heretofore proposed have been directed only to one or the other of these objectives and have been unsuccessful in accomplishing either objective satisfactorily.

Proposals for enabling the pen to pick up a full charge of ink when the ink level in the inkwell is too low to permit substantial immersion of the pen, have included capillary up-feeding devices to lift the ink into the pen. These have not been so associated with the inkwell that they would permit a pen supporting inkstand head to be used interchangeably with various containers in which ink might be merchandised.

The present invention aims to provide a permanent pen supporting inkstand head which can be used with interchangeable ink holding containers featured by means to insure charging the pen at each dipping with its full capacity for ink. The purposes of larger, costly and more complicated inkstands are thereby better served by simple ink'merchandising containers that may be low enough in cost to be thrown away and replaced instead of kept on hand and refilled.

The invention will best be understood if the .2 following description is read in connection with the drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a side view showing partly in vertical section an ink merchandising container converted into an inkstand by means of a pen supporting zlosure head incorporating the present invenion;

Fig. 2 is a sectional detail view along line 2-2 of Fig. 1 of the lower portion of the nib bracing guide of Fig. 1 sleeved by an ink lifting sponge rubber stocking; and

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view broken away showing a pen nib entering and spreading the sponge rubber stocking of Fig. 2.

In Fig. 1 a removable screw cap It, which may have'threaded engagement with the top of side wall H of container I2, serves as an inkstand head and is adapted to replace a manufacturer's imperforate temporary throw-away type of closure cap (not shown) by means of which the container I2 will be closed with a liquid-tight seal during warehouse storage and when sold as a unit of packaged merchandise.

In Fig. 1 the cover wall of cap in contains an opening or passageway 13 whose upstanding pen supporting border rim H3 encompasses the pen nib l5 together with its feed bar 18 sufiiciently closely to direct the stem handle 2|] in a predetermined lengthwise path of nib dipping movement. In accordance with conventional pen construction the writing nib l6 and its feed bar 18 are fixedly embedded in the pen handle 20 in preferably removable manner for making it possible t replace. the pen nib when desired;

The border rim l4 forms a tubular pen support whose top edge may serve as a stop abutment positioned in the aforesaid path of nib dipping movementof stem handle 20; to limit the downward entering movement of pen nib It so that the latter just fails to reach the base wall 22 of container I 2. Projecting downwardly from cap I!) are the prongs or guards Mi and 26 and surrounding these and fixed thereto is the stocking 28 made of elastic, porous material, which enables the pen to pick up ink from a nearly empty inkwell.

The cover wall of inkstand head In may be cast from metal or molded from a suitable plastic to form integrally therewith the tubular pen support [4 and further to form the downwardly extending inclined guards 26 and 26 The passageway I3 through pen support It is sufliciently larger than the pen nib and its feed bar to afford a large enough clearance space therebetween to defeat any possible tendency of ink to seep upward by capillary attraction into this space from the inkwell. V

The prongs 26 and 26 may desirably-be of hard rubber, or any metal or other material not actually affected by ink. The bottom of this stocking is easily compressible and lies against the base wall 22 of the inkwell thereby tosoak up ink from the extreme bottom of the inkwell and transfer such ink to apen nib l6 and its feed bar H3 when the latter is wedged downward between the guide prongs 26 and 26* within the stocking 28. Fig. 3 shows the downward sliding movement of the pen nib stretching-stocking 28 I laterally at 28 to insure ink-pickup wiping action of both lateral edges of the pen nib against the inside surface of the stocking. As clearly shown in Fig. 3 the guide prongs 26 and 26 also serve as guards to prevent contact between the inklifting material and the front face of the nib and the back face of the feed bar, permitting contact of the ink lifting material only with the sides of the pen and feed bar, which are exposed and not covered by the guide and guard prongs 26 and 26*.

There have thus been described aninkstand structure for supporting a-writing' pen in upstanding position on a single compartment inkstandwith the pen nib immersed in a consumable body of stored ink-andassured under all conditions-of picking up a full writing charge of ink.

I claim:

1.'- A receptacle structure for supporting a pen comprising, an' ink receptacle, and removable cover therefor, said cover having a portion formed so that it extends below the body of the cover containing an aperture conforming to the transverse cross sectional shape of a pen nib and feed bar assembly, including spaced substantially parallel guard members depending from opposite sides of said aperture and serving as guides and guards for the front of the nib and the back of the feed bar, said means being discontinuous leaving the sides of the nib and feed bar uncovered, and a sleeve of open cellular structure surrounding said guards and contacting the sides of the pen and feed bar and extending to adjacent'the bottom of the ink container.

2.A'receptacle-structure for supporting a pen comprising. an ink receptacle, and removable cover therefor, said-cover having a portion formed so that it extends below the body of the cover containing an aperture conformingto the transverse cross sectional shape of a pen nib and feed bar assembly, including spaced substantially parallel guard members depending from opposite sidesof said aperture andserving as guides and guards for the front of the nib and the back of the feed bar, said means being discontinuous leaving the sides of the pen and feed bar uncovered, and a sleeve of open cellular structure surrounding said guards and contacting the sides of the pen-and feed bar and extending to adjacent the bottom of the ink container, said sleeve comprising flexible ink lifting material.

3. In an inkstand'comprising an ink container and a removable cover therefor, a cover the main portion of which is substantially parallel with the bottom of the container having a portion inclined toward the bottom wall of said container, said inclined portion having an aperture adapted to receive a pen nib directed into it at substantially a right angle to the plane of said downwardly inclined portion, a guide member comprising a plurality of spaced downwardlyproject- 'ing prongs depending fromsaid cover around said aperture, and a sleeve of ink lifting material surrounding the prongs of said guide member, said prongs shielding the, front of the nib and the back of the feed bar from contact with said ink lifting member and serving to prevent the lowerends of bar sides of. the nib and feed barluncoveredfor contact with said ink lifting member.

4. A receptacle structure for supporting a pen comprising, an ink receptacle, and removable cover therefor, said cover having a portion formed.

so. that it extends below the body of the cover containing an aperture conforming to the transverse .cross sectional shape of a pen nib and feed bar assembly, including spaced substantially parallel guard members depending from opposite sides of said aperture and serving as guides and guards for the front of the nib and the back of the feed bar, said means being discontinuous leaving thesides of the nib and feed bar uncovered, and a sleeveof open cellular structure surrounding said guards and contacting the sides of the pen and feed bar and extending to adjacent the bottom of the ink container.

5. A receptacle structure for supporting a pen comprising, an ink receptacle, and removable cover therefor, said cover having a portion formed so that it extends below the body of the cover containing an aperture conforming to the transverse cross sectional shape of a pen niband feed assembly, including spaced substantially parallel guard members depending from opposite sides of said aperture and serving as guides and uards for. the front. of the nib and the back of the feed bar, said means being discontinuous leaving the sides of the pen and feed .bar uncovered, and a sleeve of open cellular structure surrounding said guards and contacting the sides ofsthe pen .and feed bar and extending to adjacent the bottom of the ink container, said sleeve comprising flexible ink lifting material.

6. In an inkstand comprising an ink container and a removable cover therefor, a .cover the main portion. of whichis substantiallyparallel with the bottom of the container having a portioninclineclztoward the;bottom=wall.of said container said inclined portionhaving an aperture adapted to receive apennibrdirected'into it at substantially 'a'right angle to the. plane of said downwardly inclined portion, a guide member compris ing aplurality of spaced-downwardly projecting prongs depending ,from :said cover-around said aperture, and a sleeve of ink lifting material surrounding the prongs of said guidemember, said prongs shielding the front of the nib and the back of the feed bar from contact with said ink lifting member andserving to prevent the lowerends of saidnib and feedbarfrom penetrating or engaging-in said ink-lifting member, but leaving the sides of the nib and feed bar uncovered for contact withisaid ink lifting member.

GORTON P. MORGAN.

REFERENCES CITED The followingireferences'are of recordin the file of this patent:

UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Number Name a Date 872,711 Case Dec.:3, 1907 1,527,248 Bowers Feb.,-24=, 1925 2,086,016 Crandall etal. July 6, 1937 2,194,723 Robinson Mar. 26, 1940 2,304,832 Kofke et.al.- Dec-.- 15, 1942 2,400,209 Peters May. 14, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number: Country Date 52,573 Switzerland 19.10 28,841 France 1925 635,205 France .1928

566,195 Germany Dec. 17,1932 

